Insane Grain

As brand collabs go - THIS was one of my favourites from 2023!!! The Harry Kane Company X Insane Grain As many, I was hooked on the persistent approach from the Insane Grain marketing team in looking in Englands greatest ever goal scorer. The TikToks were genius. The giant billboard was daring. The switching the shirts to ‘Insane Kane’ was outrageous. But it was the relentless approach that I aplaud the most. Creating story telling content around every opportunity to get people talking & making it difficult for Harry to ignore acting as proof that persistence can pay off! Great job Rushina Shah and your team! Of course - I had to pick up a bag from my local Tesco.

Euro 2024 kicks off on Friday The hottest partnership of the tournament is undoubtedly Insane Grain and Harry Kane. Well done founder Rushina Shah for having the ingenuity and resilience to make this happen. On the back of this, the product is now available in the UK in Tesco, Waitrose, Co-Op, Ocado, Selfridges and Amazon. Harry Kane – the next Gary Lineker! I’m delighted to be involved in this ambitious disruptor brand. Here’s some coverage in The Grocer highlighting the partnership and a few other food brands hooking up with sports personalities: https://lnkd.in/dFrKKfm2 #business #partnership #sports #foodanddrink #disruptor

"Whatever you do, don't play it safe - Howard Schultz In March 2023, I received a WhatsApp message from Rushina: "Louis—I've had an idea, and I've got something to show you." 12 months later, Insane Kane was born ⚽ Rushina had to climb a mountain to make this happen - it's a story of proper #entrepreneurial grit. A tie-up with the England captain, Harry Kane, cleverly timed for the start of the Euro's. It's boosted the brand's fame and helped Insane Grain to pick up listings in Tesco, Waitrose & Partners, Co-op and Ocado Retail. I've always shouted about the power that brilliant entrepreneurs have to disrupt the Food industry - here's an example with bells and whistles on. Pictured below on the front cover (!!) of this week's The Grocer, as part of a great article on sports stars investing in brands by Dene Mullen

So who’s watching the England game tonight? ⚽️ #euro2024 And more importantly, what are we snacking on to get us through yet another boring England performance… 🥲🥲🥲 Lol jk. I’m no football pundit. I’d like to think I’m more of a snack pundit… Drum roll for Emma's Packaging Pick of the Week 🥁🥁 And this week we're talking about these Insane Kane limited edition snacks from Insane Grain! 👏🏻 My first thought: “…......Harry? ....Is that you? What are you doing here?” 😂 How the heck did this random collab with England’s team captain Harry Kane come about?! Insane Grain is a female-founded company offering guilt-free, nutrient-packed, low-fat, and low-salt snacks. They're rich in Vitamin B12, promote gut health, high in fiber, gluten-free, and vegetarian-friendly! Perfect for health-conscious folks craving crunchy goodness. The fun and disruptive packaging by Rylands Brand Design Ltd stands out with its extrovert characters and lively illustrations, injecting quirky personality into the health foods aisle! 💚💚💚 Inspired by the classic Walkers x Gary Lineker collab, the Insane Grain marketing team pulled some bold TikTok stunts to get Harry Kane's attention. Their crazy efforts paid off, and the Harry Kane collab started in Dec 2023—just in time for the Euros hype! ⚽️ Taste Test Results 🧐 I was skeptical at first because ‘healthy’ usually means naff, right? But these snacks are surprisingly yummy. Kinda like Nik Naks, but without the guilt or horrendous indigestion #hellothirties 😆 Kudos to Insane Grain for breaking the mould in the healthy snack market. Looking forward to seeing more from them. So, what do you think?? Will you be giving Harry's knobbles a nibble? ⚽️⚽️⚽️ #harrykane #insanegrain #insanekane #packagingdesign #artworker #packagingartwork #freelancedesigner #freelanceartworker #packagingpickoftheweek

⭐𝐖𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑!⭐ And what a write-up! 🙌🏽 Thank you Dene Mullen for featuring Insane Grain in your article around 'How to get sports stars to invest in your FMCG brand.' ''𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯’𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘒𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘯𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘪𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘛𝘪𝘬𝘛𝘰𝘬 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘔𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳’𝘴 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 – 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘋𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘒𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 £1𝘮 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘯 2020.'' “𝘎𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘓𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 25 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 – 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 Insane Grain.” Perfect timing with the Euros starting this week! LFG, Harry!🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮⚽#itscominghome

Yesterday, the England men's football team headed out to Germany for the Euros✈️⚽ And we followed them with a Tesco bag packed with Insane Kane crisps! It was so surreal to see Harry Kane share our Insane Grain post with his +17 million followers! 🤯If you'd told me during the 2020 Euros that the England captain would be our brand ambassador, I wouldn't have believed you. Now for a BIG summer ahead! #itscominghome

Yesterday, we visited the Tesco HQ as part of the #TescoAccelerator programme. It was a brilliant day, where we listened to talks from the Tesco team about topics including the range review and trade planning process, supply chain requirements and customer insights. As a challenger brand, this level of support and advice is invaluable! A highlight of the day was listening to Huib van Bockel talk about his story of founding Tenzing! Tenzing is named after Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, who was one of the first two people known to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1953. Huib met the Tenzing family to get their blessing to use their name and they joined forces to build what is now a well-known, established drinks brand. Huib shared his advice around: ⛰️Repeatedly telling your story, your journey and your motivation (endlessly) ⛰️Re-inventing your category ⛰️Building an iconic brand ⛰️Choosing activations to focus on rather than trying to do everything at once ⛰️Working together with people around you to reach the summit Thank you Paul Curtis Samantha Payne Ciara Shields Victoria Baker Rachel H. Lorna Dickinson Thomas Lye Huib van Bockel

🎉 IT’S A VERY BIG DAY TODAY! 🎉 Insane Grain is now available in Tesco! 🛒 It's taken: 4️⃣ years 3️⃣6️⃣ emails (I counted) 8️⃣ different contacts 4️⃣ trips to the Tesco HQ Special moments like these make all of the hard graft worth it. So I had to capture the reaction, of some of my team, when I told them the amazing news!✨ Let's see if we can now convince Harry Kane to stop by a Tesco store to see his face on the shelves. We've got a short window to make this happen before the Euros! Paul Curtis - challenge accepted... 👀

🤯 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍! Last month, I was invited to 10 Downing Street to join other SMEs for the launch of the government’s new ‘‘Help to Grow’’ campaign.   To my shock, Rishi Sunak started talking about Insane Grain - the business that I set-up from my kitchen table (albeit we aren’t technically stocked in bakeries up and down the country 😂).   There are 5.6 million businesses registered in the UK and a huge 99% of them are classified as SMEs. The Help to Grow initiative provides business support and guidance to help them scale. You can check out the resources available in the link in the comments below.   So now we have the Prime Minister’s attention, should we create an Insane Grain crisp pack with his face on it next? ‘The Sunak Snack’ has a ring to it… 👀 P.S. We want to make clear that we don’t have any political allegiance. We have a snack for every party!   

🚨WHO ELSE WANTS TO WIN A FREE HOLIDAY?!* 🌴 A month ago, we offered you the chance to win £500 towards a holiday of your choice, if you recommended a successful sales candidate to join us at Insane Grain. We’ve made one successful hire through a recommendation and so we’ve decided to offer this again! We are now on the hunt for a National Account Manager looking to make their next move. The candidate would ideally have past F&B experience with a challenger brand (although this is not mandatory). Do you know anyone that fits the bill and wants to be part of a team that includes England men’s football Captain, Harry Kane?! If so, send them our way… and get those sunnies ready! 😎 Potential candidates – please email your CV to hello@insanegrain.co.uk. *we’re not kidding.